Common Exercise Mistakes

10 Exercises You're Probably Doing Wrong (Or Half-Assing)

An exercise is only as good as the form you use to perform it. Unfortunately, guys are botching some of the most basic exercises known to gyms. Maybe they think their form is textbook. Maybe they are so focused on the size of their dumbbells they forget about form. Maybe they are just half-assing their workouts.

Whatever the case, these incredibly common mistakes will set any guy up for mediocre fitness gains, muscle imbalances, and gym injuries. Fix your form for a better workout:

1. Bench Press

Most guys lower the bar until their elbows hit the 90-degree mark, then they spring back up. Problem is, if you stop then, you won’t go through a full range of motion to work your pecs from a variety of angles, says Los Angeles-based personal trainer Mike Donavanik, C.S.C.S.

Fix your form: As long as it doesn’t hurt/you don’t have past injuries holding you back, go ahead and lower the bar so that your elbows drop below your shoulders. “You may have to scale the weight back at first because now you’re working through a greater range of motion, so it equals more time under tension,” he says. “But you’ll become stronger because of it, plus you’ll develop better looking pecs faster.”

2. Plank

This one comes with a long list of mistakes: butt in the air, low back arched, weight pushed forward. While sticking your butt up in the air and arching your back won’t let you fully contract your core muscles, shifting your weight forward adds a lot of tension to the neck and shoulders, Donavanik says.

Fix your form: Focus on evenly distributing your weight between your forearms and feet. Then, making sure your body forms a straight line from your head to heels, draw in your navel like you’re about to get punched in the gut, he says. From there, squeeze your glutes and pull your shoulder blades down and back so nothing rounds.

3. Overhead Tricep Extension

“The biggest problem here is that guys want to show they can lift heavy weights,” Donavanik says. “But they aren’t truly strong enough to be lifting that heavy of a weight without using improper form.” Their elbows flare out and, besides taking the load off of the triceps, that places a lot of stress on the shoulders, he says.

Fix your form: First thing’s first: scale down your weights. Then, when you’re setting up to perform the exercise, pull in your elbows so that they are tucked right by your ears. Make sure to keep them there throughout the entire exercise, he says. If they start to bow out, you need to drop the weight even more.

4. Squat

“Men commonly load the bar with as much weight as possible and then do a quarter of a squat,” says physical therapist and strength coach Dean Maddalone, P.T.A., C.S.C.S., director of the Professional Athletic Performance Center.

Fix your form: Ass to grass: “I suggest lowering the squat to or past parallel to work the muscles through a full range,” he says. Focus on lowering your body through your hips and knees. Some guys attempt to drop low by bending at the waist, which can put stress on your lower back, he says.

5. Overhead Press

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“Many times, I see men press the bar too far in front of them, which causes increased stress on the back of the shoulder,” Maddalone says.

Fix your form: The movement should shoot straight up. Focus on keeping your biceps in line with your ears and directly over your shoulder, he says. When you reach the top of the move, the weight should be directly overhead.

6. Pushup

“This one kills me,” Donavanik says. “Guys can’t do pushups properly, but don’t want to suffer the ego blow of dropping down to their knees to perform modified pushups — so they do shitty regular pushups instead.” They drop their hips, their shoulders do the bulk of the work, and they risk hurting their lower back and neck.

Fix your form: Get in a high plank position, hands directly underneath your shoulders, feet together or hip-width apart. Then, lower your body toward the floor leading with your chest. Your chest, not your hips, should be the first thing that should touch the ground, he says. “If you think about that, your pushups should automatically be saved.” And, if that’s too difficult, let go of your ego and work on mastering modified pushups first.

7. Crunch

Using your hands to yank your head up with every crunch won’t do much for your abs, but it could strain your neck, Maddalone says.

8. Pull-up

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Whether you call them “cheating” or “ Kipping pull-ups,” momentum-fueled pull-ups — in which you swing your hips and legs on the way up — not only miss the point, they can lead to shoulder injury, especially if your aren’t strong enough to lower yourself in a controlled manner, Maddalone says. And, let’s face it, if you’re having to cheat on the way up, you probably aren’t strong enough to lower down properly.

Fix your form: Starting from a dead hang, squeeze your upper body and core to pull your elbows down to your sides, he says. Then, when you lower yourself back down, don’t just drop. Lower slowly — that’s half of the exercise, after all.

9. Bicep Curl

“Men often load the bar with too much weight or pick up too-heavy dumbbells to do bicep curls,” Maddalone says. “To compensate to lift the weight, they arch their backs and twist. This typical movement may lead to lower back or bicep injuries.”

Fix your form: “You’ll get a better ‘pump’ if you lift and lower the appropriate weight in a more controlled manner,” he says. Work on keeping your back straight and elbows fixed to your side throughout the entire movement.

10. Lat Pulldown

Guys don’t typically half-ass this one. They take it too far. Pulling the bar down lower than need-be causes the back to round, which can put stress on the upper back, shoulders, and neck, Donavanik says.